Germany in the Hohenstaufen Era: 1137-1250
After the Investiture Controversy of
the 1170s-1180s, the power of the King in Germany was greatly weakened.
Internal revolts and the lack of strong kings had allowed feudalism to spread
without the monarchy being able to keep control of it. The agricultural
expansion of the late tenth century in Germany had increased the wealth of the
princes and counts, and during the controversy they had begun to encroach on
the crown lands and prerogatives, such as hospitality dues, and advocacies.
These latter were the secular and military administration of clerical estates
in German territory. This allowed German nobles to take over monasteries for
their own benefit and acquire clerical allies. As well, the nobles took
advantage of urban growth in the duchies to make new cities their
protectorates. With a more powerful and wealthy territorial base, the dukes'
power vis-a-vis the king was much increased. As regards Italy, at the end of the
Investiture Controversy, the German monarch's power had all but evaporated.
North Italian bishops who supported the King were unable to maintain power over
the burgeoning and increasingly liberated cities, which were often papal in
sympathy.
During the period of the last Salian King
Henry IV (r. 1056-1106) and Henry V (r. 1106-1126), two key ducal families
emerged in Germany. They were the Welf (Geulf) of Bavaria, and the Hohenstaufen
(Ghibelline) of Swabia. The Welfs were pro-papal, and were behind most of the
noble revolts during 1100-1126, along with the western archbishops. The
Hohenstaufens of Swabia, on the other hand, were the one great family upon whom
the German monarch could rely. Problems emerged in 1126, when Henry died with
no heir. He had nominated Frederick of Swabia, and Hohenstaufen, but the noble,
pro-clerical electors instead chose Lothaire of Saxony (r. 1126-1137), assuming
that he was weaker and therefore more malleable, especially as he too had no
son and no dynasty would emerge. When Frederick was not allowed access to
Henry's lands, he revolted. This revolt was put down, but the Welf-Hohenstaufen
rivalry was by this time spreading into north and central Italy, with different
cities supporting one or the other family. As he had received Welf support,
Lothaire married his daughter to the Duke of Bavaria, Henry the Proud. Any male
issue would thus become Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, and this alarmed the other
nobles who did not want a supreme monarch. Thus, when Lothaire died in 1138, the
noble electors passed over Henry the Lion and chose Conrad III of the
Hohenstaufens, who ruled until 1152. He was a weak king, yet his principle
achievement was to keep Henry the Lion out of Bavaria, though he did not
prevent increasing Welf strength or the eastern duchies' expansion to the east
outside of the crown's control. Conrad died while away on the second Crusade in
Syria in 1152. He had nominated as his successor his brother Frederick of
Swabia's son, Frederick.
Frederick I, "Barbarossa"--the red-bearded--was
the most important twelfth- century German king. He sought to revive power of
the German monarchy both at home as well as in Italy. He thus had to develop
policies towards 1) Germany and its nobles; 2) the Italian cities, and 3) the
Papacy.
Domestically, Frederick I recognized that the
greatest challenge to royal authority were the allodial counts--those who had
acquired their lands and power by other than feudal means. These had to be
linked to the crown legally and contractually. Basically, Frederick wanted to
rule as a powerful monarch based on feudal ties. Thus, in the 1150s, he began
with a disarming policy. First, he favored the growth of towns, as centers of
royal administration and monitoring of the crown domain. This allowed him to build
the demesne back up, and conveyed to him revenues, as urban centers began to
exert control over the rural surroundings. Directly regarding the rising noble
classes, Frederick opted not to challenge their usurpations. Instead, he sold
them charters, legitimizing their illegal seizures of power and lands. The
German nobles were quite ready to buy legitimacy in such a way, and more cash
came to the crown. Nobles were also required to provide troops for royal
campaigns. Frederick thus created feudal ties, to his benefit. He also
attempted to reduce tensions with the Welf, allowing Henry the Lion control of
Bavaria, opening the way for more eastern expansion.
Between 1158 and 1180, Frederick undertook
six expeditions into Italy, either in support of or in order to discipline the
pope. At this time northern and central Italy was dominated by independent
cities--communes. In Rome, the commune was lead by Arnold of Brescia,
considered heretical for his anti- Papal attitude and desire to secularize all
Church property. From 1145 he had been able to keep popes out of Rome, so when
Adrian IV came to the throne (1154- 1159), the Pope was ready to call on
external support. Frederick was equally desirous of clipping the Italian
communes' wings. By 1156, Frederick had defeated and executed Arnold, restoring
the Popes to Rome, and had laid siege to and razed Tortona, an ally of the
independence-minded Milan commune. In 1158, Frederick went south again, and
forced Milan to recognize Imperial overlordship. At Roncaglia, he announced the
revival of al imperial rights going back to Carolingian times. He was to have
the power to appoint dukes and communal consuls, to collect tolls and
hospitality dues, as well as to be the sole general arbiter in Lombard regions.
Though he guaranteed Milan's territorial integrity, he returned in 1160-1162 to
lay siege to the city. Ultimately he razed it with the aid of other conmunes
Milan had oppressed in the past.
At this point the Hohenstaufen embrace
started to worry other Italian towns and the papacy. In 1159 Adrian had died.
Two papal claimants emerged. While Frederick called a council to appoint the
pope, most European leaders supported his opponent, Alexander III, thinking
that the German king no longer had the right to appoint pontiffs. By 1165
Alexander had been able to occupy Rome; Frederick returned to drive him out,
and Alexander was forced to flee to the Normans. When the German army became
infected with Malaria, Frederick called off the expedition to the south.
Shortly thereafter, thirty-six Lombard region towns formed the Lombard League.
Spurred on by Alexander, their goal was to prevent the German authority from
suffocating their liberties. In 1174 Barbarossa came south yet again, yet
without Welf contingents, his army was outnumbered by league troops. On 28 May
1176 the two sides met at Legnano, and the Italians scored a resounding
victory. In 1177, Barbarossa was forced to recognize Alexander as the
legitimate Pope, after which a six-year truce was made with the Lombard League.
He then went north to fight the Welf Henry the Lion, who had deserted him
before the battle. This further exhausted the German crown, and required
Barbarossa to make concessions to the feudalized nobles, though he did remain
the uncontested overlord. In 1183, by the Terms of the Peace of Constance, he
was made to guarantee the independence of the Italian towns. Finally, Frederick
undertook one last expedition to Italy. The Norman William II in Sicily was
entangled with the Byzantines, and Pope Lucius II (1181-1185) wanted to restore
amicable Papal-German relations. He approved a Sicilian-German alliance, which
was secured by the marriage of William's daughter Constance to Frederick's son
Henry VI. A few years later, Frederick turned the crown over to Henry and went
on the Third Crusade, drowning in an Anatolian river in 1190.
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